On a Starry Night
by QueenAlla
Summary: A wish on a shooting star doesn't turn out as well as hoped. Written for "The Sacred and Profane".


Written by request for "The Sacred and Profane". I don't own anything, hardly even the plot. The author to your left is the one who came up with that ;)

So with that, please enjoy!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A billion stars dotted the perfect black sky, twinkling like diamonds in an endless cave. They lit up the darkness like a light for lost souls, souls that revealed themselves at night, trying to find their way home in the infinite expanse known as the universe.

The intricately woven sky made Tifa feel so small and insignificant, that it was almost as if she didn't exist. The stars which looked so tiny were really larger than life, and when Tifa's time to go back to the planet came, the stars would have scarcely aged at all.

The stars made her wonder if they were wise, having lived so long, and for so much longer to come. Did they know all the secrets of the Planet, the universe even? Their eyes had seen so much, that it must be so...

"Tifa, look!"

Her boyfriend's sharp whisper from beside her made all her thoughts vanish like a puff of smoke. Why was he whispering? Was the magnificence of the stars so overwhelming that it could take a person's breath away?

Without question, Tifa looked to the sky where the redhead was pointing. And just in time, too. A star went shooting past her field of vision, so quickly that her senses were unsure whether she had imagined it or not. Perhaps, it had vanished as quickly as a human life lasted.

Then, how had Tifa managed to see it before it disappeared, after Reno had warned her several seconds beforehand?

"There were two...One for me, one for you." Reno murmured, his aquamarine eyes glistening in the darkness. Was that mako's doing? "Make a wish."

Tifa gave a slight nod before closing her eyes. _A wish..._

She had everything, didn't she? A close-to-perfect boyfriend, great friends, a lovely apartment...but what about herself? Was she perfect enough? She admired her boyfriend to bits, but did he admire her the same way?

Beauty wasn't a problem, he complimented that every day. She was successful too, having run a bar for the past 6 years now. But was she funny enough? No, perhaps she lacked in the humour department...Reno never laughed at her jokes. Not that she could remember, anyway. That was it. She wanted to have a more interesting personality.

_I wish for my personality to be more interesting. _

A simple enough request.

Tifa turned her head towards Reno, who had his signature grin taken form on his lips. "What'd you wish for, Reno?"

He pursed his lips in thought before casting his eyes towards the woman lying next to him on the grass. "Can't tell. Otherwise it won't come true."

Tifa's eyes narrowed playfully. "It better not be something I wouldn't approve of..."

The redheaded Turk chuckled lightly, stroking her long brown hair just as much. "No need to worry, babe. I'm sure you can handle it."

She punched his arm softly, not able to hide the smirk on her face. "Oh yeah? Well, I'm sure you can handle my wish."

"What wish?"

"Can't tell you. Otherwise it mightn't come true." Tifa retorted, kissing the defeated Turk lightly on the lips.

________________________________

Tifa felt confused. Her sleep had been refreshing, and it wasn't the fact that Reno was already out of bed-well, it could have been, but there was something nibbling at the back of her mind that made her feel odd.

Non-hesitantly, she got out of bed and walked towards her wall mirror to survey herself, in case she had woken up part-rodent or something along those lines. Thankfully, she looked completely normal. She had made sure there was no hidden tail by doing a few spin-arounds, and was glad to see that there were no extra bits or pieces-missing, either.

So it wasn't her appearance that was different, although she did find the fact that her pyjamas had moogles printed all over was extremely childish. She made a note on her desk to change her outfit to something more suitable.

Maybe it was her apartment?

As she walked out of the bedroom and into the hallway, it dawned on her that she wasn't exactly living in luxury. Texta marks lined the stained walls, paperwork was everywhere, and she had accidentally stepped in a half-eaten chocolate brownie.

Did she always live like this? Her taste in art was poor too. The pictures that were framed along the hallway weren't original in the slightest, and were basically all the same, except for one or two.

The children's scribbly drawings made up most of the collection, and a painting of the streets of Midgar was the only thing that added a bit of flavour to it. This time, she made a mental note to fix up her collection of "artworks" as soon as possible. And to remove that horrid family photo of Cloud, Marlene, Denzel and herself. It was poorly captured.

A frown of distaste was on her face as she walked curtly down the staircase to the-

Bar.

A bar. She worked in a bar.

_Why did I ever choose to work in such a lowly place such as this? This is a commoners job, not someone with standards such as...Wait, I _am_ a commoner. I _must_ change this at once!_

"Mornin' babe." Reno greeted her as she entered the bar she despised.

Her frown only deepened. "Do not call me 'babe'. You are to use _proper_ english, Reno, we are not savages."

The frazzled redhead's eyes widened in shock. "Whoa. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed...Literally. Why'd ya sleep on my side? You've turned...weird. Shakespeare weird."

Tifa picked up a nearby wooden spoon and slapped him on the hand with it. "Shakespeare was a gifted man. Do not bad-mouth the wise, for they are what made this Planet how it is today."

Reno just stared at her, open mouthed. "Is this a game?" He cleared his throat. "For if it would be a sport, I shant tarry any longer."

She whacked him again with the spoon, but harder. "This is no game. Now, what are we to eat to break the fast?"

Reno chuckled. "Break the fast...That's a good one, Tif'."

He swallowed hard as the brunette gave him a glare of disapproval. "Uh...Pancakes?"

"Reno! You should know better! Pancakes are full of sugar and fat, and you could do without them. Instead, we will have a bowl of muesli, topped with natural plain yogurt and fresh fruit. Oh and we do have soy milk, yes?"

He looked about ready to collapse. Something had happened overnight and he didn't like it. "You okay, Tif'? You look kinda pale. Maybe we should take you to a doctor."

She brushed a strand of hair out of her brown eyes. "Nonsense. I'm perfectly fine."

"No, no, let's get you some rest, at least. Into bed and I'll make you some...muesli." He shuddered as he took his uptight girlfriend's hand and whisked her to the bedroom.

_______________________________

Tifa's eyelids fluttered open, and a wide grin spread over her face as she awoke. The morning had begun.

With just moment of hestitation of getting out of her warm, comforting blankets, she sprung upwards and bounced on the bed a couple of times, before jumping onto the soft cream carpet below. She felt energized.

Her reflection was eyecatching. Moogle spotted pjyamas met her brown eyes, widening her happy grin. Moogles were her favourite. Though to her unfortunate realisation as she walked down the stairs in a sulk, she couldn't smell pancakes cooking. The wafting aroma of herbal tea entered her nose, making her squirm in distaste. She didn't like herbs and she didn't like tea. Bad mix.

"Hey Tif', feeling better?" A familiar voice asked her from the kitchen.

Tifa walked cautiously over to the bench where Reno was preparing breakfast. It didn't look appetising at all.

"Sorry it took so long, I got caught up watching an episode of NCIS." Reno added, popping a strawberry into his mouth for taste.

Tifa yawned and rubbed her eyes, not even bothering to ask what NCIS stood for. "What's for brekky?"

"You seem heaps better! We're having muesli, like you asked for, remember?" Reno replied, tossing her a ripe red strawberry. "Try it, they're in season and you can tell. Imported from..." He scanned the container quickly, until a surprised expression appeared on his face. "Wutai. Who knew?"

"Eww! Muesli?! That's gross, Reno!" Tifa complained, her mouth half full of the bright red fruit. "I want pancakes with fruit salad and-oh look, junk mail! Yay!"

The Turk stared blankly at the childish woman as she skipped off to the coffee table where several magazines rested. Although he was confused as to why she was acting so odd, he had to admit that he liked the childish Tifa more than the perfectionist Tifa.

In a huff, he scraped the bowls of muesli into the bin, wishing that he had a pet dog to feed the stuff to. He didn't like wasting food, but he wasn't going to lie to himself-no one was going to end up eating that muesli.

"Ooh, Renoo!" Tifa squealed, jumping up and down on the spot, a toy catalogue in her hasty grip. "We _have_ to get this Diva Dolly! Her hair can glow in the dark! And it's only 200 gil! Oh my gosh oh my gosh, Renooo!"

"After I just paid half of that on soy milk? Hell, Tifa, it aint even your birthday yet." Reno scraped the remnants of the fruit into two separate bowls and slammed them on the table, signalling for her to eat. "And since when did you become interested in 'Diva Dollies'?"

"Since like, just then! But look how gorgeous she is! Don't you just want to _marry_ her!?" Tifa replied in her most convincing tone.

Reno was a little worried about her. "Don't tell me you're gonna turn lez on me. And she might have good cleavage, but not as good as yours. Not that that's the point, but you get me..."

Tifa looked puzzled. "What's 'lez' and 'cleavage'?"

He slammed his head on the table. "Siddown and eat."

"Oh, okay. So I have good eating skills, then?" She asked, her eyes inquisitive.

He gave up then. "Yeah, Tifa. You have good eating skills."

_______________________________

"Helloo!"

The front door burst open somehow, despite being locked. There was only one person who knew how to do that, and it wasn't a good sign.

A crossed legged Tifa looked up from her position next to the T.V, her Diva Dolly hanging in mid air, tied to a rope. "Yuffie!"

The Wutian ninja wore a puzzled expression as her older friend ran up and hugged her side. "Uh, hi, Tif'. What got-Oh my gosh. Is that a...Dolly Diva!?!?!? Oooh, they're my favourite!"

The two girls skidded over to where the doll was hanging from a pole using rope, Yuffie already admiring her glowing green hair through her hands. "Jemma, my favourite. Oh, cool fact-did you know that Shinra makes the hair glow green? You'd know that, right Reno?"

"Hm?" The redhead looked up from a book on parenting he was reading, his aquamarine eyes looking as if they had just broken from a trance. "Oh...yeah. That's not my field of expertee though. Hojo did it."

Yuffie nodded, half expecting his answer. "Yeah. Hey Tif', is there any reason Jemma is trying to commit suicide?"

"She's not. She's doing flying lessons." Tifa replied sternly, halfway through giving the doll a little push.

"Oh."

An awkward silence filled the room, only Tifa not seeming to mind. She looked quite content giving her new doll a swing.

"Yuffie, c'mere a sec." Reno ordered, Yuffie obeying.

In a murmur, he asked, "I need your help. Tifa's acting weird. Last night, there were two shooting stars, and I don't know what she wished for, but I wished for whatever her wish was to be enhanced. Have I lost you yet?"

Yuffie paused for a moment, taking in what he was saying, until she answered with a slow, unsure shake of the head.

"So, I'm guessing she wished to be more interesting, and so now, she's a little _too_ interesting. How can I fix it?"

A sly smirk formed on her face. "You don't have to."

Just as Reno was about to question her remark, she was already halfway out the door.

"Leave it to me!"

_The last time I left something up to her, she burnt the Christmas turkey and 'accidentally' let the steamed vegetables fall into the bin._

____________________________

A shooting star fell across the dotted horizon, and Yuffie knew her duty.

_I wish for Tifa to be stuck in an empty room with Rude until all her interestingness fades away..._

There was a twinkle in her eye as she smirked. _Mission complete, Reno!_

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hope you liked it! ^^ And thanks for taking the time to read :)


End file.
